Biden Confuses French President With Former Leader Who Died In 1996

President Joe Biden seemed to confuse the current French president with the country’s former leader who passed away over two decades ago, during a campaign event Sunday night.

Biden was giving a speech during a campaign rally event in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday night, at one point addressing his relationship with the Group of Seven (G7) and NATO leaders in Europe. Biden mistakenly addressed French President Emmanuel Macron with former President François Mitterrand, who died from prostate cancer in 1996.

“You know, right – right after I was elected, I went to what they call a G7 meeting, all the NATO leaders.  And it was in – it was in the south of England,” Biden said to a crowd on Sunday. “And I sat down and I said, ‘America is back.'”

“And Mitterrand (referring to Macron) from Germany — I mean France — looked at me and said, ‘How long you back for?’” Biden said to the crowd.

Biden has made mistaken or strange remarks on foreign policy-related issues before; while attending the G20 Summit in Vietnam in September, Biden’s microphone was cut off mid-press briefing after he told the crowd he was “going to bed.” He has also made statements that the White House has seemed to walk back, including promising a military response if China invaded Taiwan, or declaring that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” according to Politico.

The president has held a number of campaign events around the country ahead of the 2024 presidential elections in November. Biden is trailing former President Donald Trump by roughly five points in an NBC National News poll conducted Jan. 26-Jan. 30.

During the Sunday speech, Biden touted his approval of $3 billion for a high-speed rail line, and told the crowd: “It’s going to take you from here to Las Vegas — well, from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in two hours by train instead of four hours by car.”

Biden is currently polling at an approximately 55.5% disapproval rating compared to 38.8% approval, according to Project 538. The Democrat’s support among some key voting blocs who helped push him to the presidency in 2020 has also slipped, in part over criticisms of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.